The journey began in early March at spring training in Goodyear, Ariz.

It ended Monday night at Classic Park in spectacular fashion.

The Captains did it.

They are the 2010 champions of the Midwest League.

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With a 3-1 victory over the Clinton LumberKings in Game 5 of the best-of-five MWL championship series in their pockets, Captains players and coaches poured onto the field for a wild celebration that continued in their beer-and-champagne-soaked clubhouse.

Carried away by the sheer exuberance of the moment, shortstop Casey Frawley and his teammates returned to field for more spontaneous displays of joy.

"We wanted this one so much. The feeling is unbelievable," Frawley said in the clubhouse as teammates took turns dousing each other, Manager Ted Kubiak, coaches Phil Clark and Mickey Callaway and anyone else who wandered into their path.

"What you did here was incredible," Kubiak said, addressing his team in the clubhouse. "I don't know if you realize what you did. The way we finished the season, I couldn't have asked for anything more."

For those of you who weren't keeping score at home, here's how the Captains finished the season.

Each of their three playoffs series went the distance.

In the best-of-three Eastern Division semifinals, they beat West

Michigan at home in Game 3 to advance to the Eastern Division finals against Great Lakes, a team that owned them during the regular season.

After dropping Game 1 at Classic Park, they went up to Michigan and beat the Loons twice to earn a spot in the championship series.

Following a come-from-behind victory in Game 1 in Iowa, they finished on the short end of an 18-inning marathon in Game 2, also played in the Hawkeye State. After winning Game 3 at home in convincing fashion, they lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in Game 4 before Monday's sterling performance in Game 5.

The Captains are MWL champions for many reasons, not the least of which is that after each of their four playoff losses, they responded with victory in the next game.

"That shows their resilience," Kubiak said. "What these guys did was incredible. This is the greatest bunch of players I've ever had as a manager. They gutted it out."

Monday's victory was crafted out of the building blocks that were the foundation of Lake County's championship season -- solid work by a starting pitcher, shut-down performances by relievers, clutch hitting and air-tight defense.

Giovanni Soto, the 19-year-old left-hander who came to the Cleveland organization from Detroit on July 28 in the Jhonny Peralta deal, gave up one run on three hits in the most important 5 2/3 innings of his budding career. He registered nine strikeouts and yielded two walks.

The LumberKings finally broke through against Soto in the top of the inning on a two-out, RBI single by Nick Franklin. Soto left the mound after Franklin's hit to standing ovation. In came right-hander Jeremy Johnson to face Clinton left-fielder Vinnie Catricala.

Johnson got Catricala to hit a hard grounder up the middle that was speared in the whole by Lake County second baseman Argenis Martinez.

With Franklin bearing down on second base, Martinez shoveled the ball from his glove to Frawley to get the inning-ending force out.

"It was a tough situation, a huge situation. Two men on base. Game on the line," Johnson said. "I was a little nervous at first, but I got the job done. That was an amazing play by Marty (Martinez).'

Clinton starter Yoervis Martinez held the Captains at bay through four hitless innings. In the bottom of the fifth, the Captains put the game's first run on the board on singles by Chase Burnette and Roberto Perez and a double-play grounder by Jason Smit that scored Perez from this base.

Lake County pushed across what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Delvi Cid walked with one out, stole second base and scored on Frawley's RBI single.

"It's only fitting that Frawley got that hit," Kubiak said.

Frawley is one of 11 Captains who have been with the team since the start of the season. On June 19, he slammed a walkoff home run that gave the Captains a 3-2 victory over Lansing and sewed up the first-half title and playoff berth.

The Captains employed classic "small ball" to push across an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Burnette's leadoff single was followed by sacrifice bunts from Perez and Smit. Burnette scored home on Folgia's RBI fly to right field.

Captains closer Preston Guilmet sealed the deal with three hitless, shutout innings striking. The last if his five strikeouts, of Grant Wiswall in the bottom of the ninth, ended the game and the banner season.

In the top of the eighth and ninth innings, Cid and Folgia made outstanding, running catches to support Guilmet's pitching.

Clinton players and coaches quickly made their way off the field as the Captains came together in a joyous scrum near the pitching mound.

"It was a great, great series,. I enjoyed every minute of it," LumberKings manager John Tomargo said. "I thought we would came back, but they did such a great job pitching at the end of the game."

About a half-hour had passed since the final out when Kubiak finally had time to sit down and ponder what had just happened.

As a player, he has three World Series rings from his years with the Oakland A's. In 16 previous seasons as a manager in the minor leagues, he'd taken six teams to the playoffs without winning a title.